The process for issuing a United States visa, possibly including a Visas Mantis check

SAOs have been the source of long delays for determining if a non-U.S. citizen should be issued a visa or not. As a result, United States Government Accountability Office found in a report dated February 2004 that "students and scholars with science backgrounds might decide not to come to the United States, and technological advancements that serve U.S. and global interests could be jeopardized" as a result.[5]

In mid-2003, SAOs were submitted for about 2% of the applicants.[3] The Department of State processed 245,000 SAOs in FY 2006, and has processed over a million SAOs in the period from September 2001 to May 2007.[6]

The validity of the clearance (which specifies a deadline for the time a visa could be issued) is based on its type, and ranges between three and 48 months.[1] During the period of validity, posts can usually issue another visa for the applicant without requesting a new SAO if the applicant's circumstances have not changed much.

The Department of State claims that 80% of SAOs are cleared within two weeks, but the general expected time for a clearance is unknown.[11] While various diplomatics posts mention some average times (the website of the United States embassy in Ankara, Turkey, mentions up to six to eight weeks),[2] this only reflects the recent experience of the post, and does not reflect actual statistics.[11]

The Department of State's Foreign Affairs Manual (which is a reference for diplomatic posts), dated August 16, 2006, mentions:[1]

“

[...] posts can expect a wait of a minimum of twenty (20) business days to receive responses, although some responses will arrive well within that time frame. However, complicated cases can take some time to resolve, particularly if there are other U.S. Government agency concerns to consider.

”

According to a report by the United States Government Accountability Office, as of November 30, 2004, 87% of Visas Mantis cases (one of the various kinds of SAOs) has been cleared in 30 days or less, 5% were taking 31–60 days, 5% were taking 61–90 days, 1% were taking 91–120 days and the final 2% were taking more than 120 days.[12] The average time was 15 days, which was significantly reduced, as the same report mentions that during October 2003, the average was 75 days.[12] On February 11, 2005, the Department of State mentioned that it "has been able to decrease the average time to obtain Visas Mantis clearance to less than 14 days".[8]

A presentation attributed to the Department of State dated November 6, 2008, says that the average time the Visas Mantis clearances take as 6 to 8 weeks.[13]

According to the U.S. Department of State website, most cases applied for in Beijing should be cleared within 60 days, but 90 days are also expected.[14]

As of February 2010, the U.S. consulate in Dubai is reporting that administrative processing can delay some applications for 175 days (~6 months) or more.[15]

Between 2008 and 2013, a non-scientific sampling of participants in a self-reported tracker (n=48) on a visajourney forum routinely reported waits of 13–18 months and beyond.[16] Nearly all, but not exclusively so, of the long pending case times were men from Pakistan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and some from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and India, many with family (k-1, marriage) petitions but a few with student or exchange visa requests.[17] Users on the same forum from Turkey and Lebanon typically waited between 1 to 3 months. Long cases from administrative processing from non-Muslim-majority countries appeared to be predominantly for individuals with origins in the previous list (i.e., a Pakistani living in Kenya) but wait times appeared to be shorter.[18]